What If Battle:Shikamaru Nara versus Shino Aburame
by Sdeaf
Summary: This is a battle that many people have wondered about. This is a mock-up of what I a believe a pre-Shippuuden battle would look like. Who will win? Shikamaru with his intelligence, weapons, and shadow? Or Shino with his smarts, bugs, and strength? One sho


Author's Note: Okay, I decided to take a break from my usual stuff to do something that apparently a lot of people have been wondering about: Who would win? This is my idea of how a (Pre-Shippuuden) fight between them would progress. Well, enjoy.

P.S. Would you believe that no one has ever done something like this? I checked, but all I got was one decent relationship story and a bunch of Yoai (or however you spell that)

Shikamaru Nara vs. Shino Aburame

Shikamaru stood in the middle of a clearing inside some forest. He was clad in his usual Chunin uniform, with his hands in his pockets and his figure slouched. He stared at the figure in front of him and wondered how he had been talked into this battle.

"So then, I guess I'm up against you?" He did not look very pleased.

Shino Aburame returned Shikamaru's stare, but any emotion he might have been showing was lost behind his dark glasses and high collar. He spoke in his usual, creepy voice.

"Yes, that appears to be the case."

Shikamaru let out a sigh. "This is going to be very troublesome, isn't it?"

"Yes, it will."

The proctor who stood between them raised his hand and chopped it down. "Begin." He yelled, and in a moment, he was gone.

"Well, maybe I can finish this quickly." Shikamaru brought his hands together and spread out his feet. His shadow suddenly shot out and ran across the forest ground towards Shino.

Shino had seen Shikamaru use this move several times, however, and he was fully prepared. He quickly leapt back several times, just barely keeping his shadow from connecting with Shikamaru's and constantly keeping his eye on the ground.

'I seem to be at a disadvantage,' Shino thought, 'This forest is full of shadows, which he can use to extend his indefinitely.' He glanced to the side and quickly lunged behind a tree that was next to him. Without hesitating, he jumped onto the side of the tree and ran up it. Just as he got to a suitable branch Shikamaru's shadow zoomed up the trunk of the tree in a futile search for him. When it found nothing, it shrank back to its master. 'On the other hand, he cannot catch me with that shadow of his if he cannot see me, whereas I don't even need to see him personally to take him down.'

Shino let one of his Kikai bugs crawl out from his sleeve and onto his hand. He studied Shikamaru's receding shadow and guessed at his location. He stared at the insect and instructed it. 'Scout the area and find him. Stay directly above him so that I will be able to know where he is at all times,' he silently instructed it before letting it fly away.

Shikamaru was right; this fight was going to be a pain. First, he had seen his opponent only once before, and at that time Shino had showed only a fraction of his powers. Nevertheless, Shikamaru was determined to do his best in this match. He kept his eyes locked on the tree that Shino had climbed and he quickly analyzed the situation.

'There's a lot of other trees near it, but none of them can be jumped to without my seeing the action, so he must still be in the same branch. Now…which one is it?'

Shikamaru ran forward and scanned the tree, taking in its structure, texture, and the placement of its branches. Then, however, and without any warning, he stopped, pivoted to his left, and threw a kunai knife above him. The bug trailing him was neatly sliced in half. Almost immediately, and before Shino looked back down from seeing his Kikai destroyed, Shikamaru's shadow flew across the ground, up the trunk of the tree again, and straight to a certain branch. Shino tensed, and Shikamaru smiled with a successful capture. His smile widened when he took a step forward and saw Shino fall to the ground after mimicking him.

"Killing the bug was just to get your eyes up and away from the ground," Shikamaru explained. "I'm glad I guessed the right branch though. Do you want to give up?"

Shino gave no response; he merely stood there and stared at Shikamaru from behind his dark glasses. His silence and apparently superior demeanor unnerved Shikamaru.

"Hey, look, this is just a match right? There's no need for us to turn this into something bigger than it is. Just give up and we can laugh about this later."

There was still no reply from Shino.

Shikamaru sighed. "Okay then, I guess I'll just make you pass out. Don't blame me if something bad happens though." He made a sigil with his hands, and his shadow slowly crept up Shino's jacket, a dark hand led the way towards his throat. It was only inches away before it stopped for a moment.

"Last chance." Shikamaru was very flustered.

Nothing.

"Then, I'm sorry." The hand reached Shino's throat and began to squeeze. Nothing happened for a moment, but then Shikamaru tried harder and he began to see Shino's throat compressing. 'I've just got to keep it up until he faints,' he thought, but it was not happening. Then there was a snap and Shino's neck was crushed.

Shikamaru took a few steps back in astonishment. 'I didn't do it that hard.'  
He couldn't explain what had happened, but then he was even more puzzled by the fact that, even though his shadow had left Shino, Shino's body had not fallen to the ground yet. He heard buzzing, but besides that there was no reaction from Shino, no clutching his throat, no gasping, bleeding, or even an exclamation. Then Shikamaru was extremely surprised to see Shino explode into many of his bugs. Realization hit him when they all started flying towards him. Shino's bugs can clone him.

"Crap!" Shikamaru took a step back and looked around just in time to see Shino burst from the underbrush very close to him. Shino cocked his arm back and ran towards Shikamaru.

"You talk too much Shikamaru Nara."

Shino seemed to be going for a strike with his palm, but as Shikamru shifted to avoid it, countless insects burst from Shino's sleeve and fanned out across his hand, effectively tripling his attack range. Shikamaru tried to throw himself to the side, but a good amount of insects hit him in the abdomen and clung to him. As soon as they touched him, Shikamaru could feel them start to suck out his chakra. He scrambled back and away from Shino, who was already swinging with his other hand.

'Damn it, this fight isn't going well.' Shikamaru quickly threw a smoke bomb onto the ground and, as black smoke enveloped the area, he pulled out a kunai and ran as fast as he could to one side. Once he was out of the smoke he chose a direction and continued running that way, shaving the insects off of him with every step. When he stopped feeling his chakra being drained he stopped running and found a tree to hide behind. He sat down and derided himself while panting.

'He's right, I spoke too much instead of thinking, and now almost half of my chakra is gone. I'm really going to have to out-think him to get any chance of winning this. Okay, I have to think. Why would Shino waste such a perfect opportunity with such an obvious attack? I realize that he's physically stronger than I am, but that attack was really transparent. He would have been better served had he snuck up behind me and sent his bugs after me or something. Unless…'

Shino Aburame walked through the forest towards Shikamaru's position. All of his senses were alert, and he had a Kikai bug at every position of the clock about twenty feet around him.

'I cannot underestimate Shikamaru. I must be at my utmost alertness no matter what.' Even as he thought this, he sent many more insects out in a wide circle so that Shikamaru would not be able to see them and had them crawl on the ground so that he would not be able to hear them. One of his scouting Kikai flew back to him and he allowed it to land on his finger. He could sense the desire that it sent out. It was reacting to the female insect he had placed on Shikamaru, and now he knew exactly where he was. He had guessed correctly and was heading in the right direction already. He gave his insects more specific directions and sent them to surround Shikamaru. Once they were ready he started walking towards the tree that he knew Shikamaru was behind.

Shikamaru checked the weapons he had left. 'Four more Kunai, three shurikan, two exploding tags, and four feet of wire. Crap, that's not much.' Despite his complaints, he finished his preparations in thirty seconds.

Once Shino got to about ten feet behind Shikamaru's tree, he waited. His Kikai were hiding in the grass all around Shikamaru and were anxious for his command to strike. Just as he was about to, though, he sensed Shikamaru begin to make hand signs. Shino could not tell what they were, but he knew that he had to get to him before he finished whatever it was that he was doing. He gave the silent order, and in seconds the air around him filled with the buzzing of his insect's wings as they burst from their hiding places and surged towards Shikamaru as fast as they could. Even with all of their speed, however, Shikamaru still finished his hand signs just as they reached him. As they started swarming all over his body, he drew a kunai; and just before they swallowed him, he lifted one arm and stabbed himself in the stomach. This puzzled Shino until he saw Shikamaru's shape shift to that of a log.

'Ah, a substitution, very nice.' Shino almost smiled, until he saw something burning amidst his bugs that still swarmed the log. He tried o signal for them to get away from the log, but before he could, the exploding tag Shikamaru had left behind blew up. The blast killed few of his bugs, but it incapacitated almost all of them. Shino fought down the urge to panic at having lost the majority of his Kikai and coolly scanned the forest. He was rewarded by seeing Shikamaru leap from one branch of a tree and launch two shurikans at him. He did not want to jeopardize any more bugs, se he simply dodged to his right, or at least he tried. When he did his feet caught on a wire and he fell to the ground. He rolled, recovered, and was back on his feet in seconds, but he could not see Shikamaru.

Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a flash of green fly to the side. He quickly turned, but saw that it was only Shikamaru's vest strapped to a kunai. This time smile. 'Just like at the Chunin exams, except now he's using it for a completely different reason.' He recognized his error of looking at the distraction and swiftly turned back to the side to see Shikamaru's last shurikan fly at him. He dodged this one by shifting to the side, but even as he did he heard a snap and had to turn back around to see the branch that had been held back but the wire snap forward with another kunai strapped to the end of it. He tried to jump to the side, but it was too fast, and it raked his side, leaving a small bleeding line.

He quickly bypassed the pain and spun around. Shikamaru dropped from a tree and cut the kunai stuck to his vest with another one in his hand. He stood and faced Shino with a kunai in each of his hands. The little circles were near his thumbs, while the blades were next to his smallest finger. He smiled.

"Now I know that this is the real you."

Shino noticed his challenge and summoned the rest of his Kikai. There were not as many as he would have liked, but he figured that the ones he had with him would be sufficient. "Yes, it is."

Shikamaru felt very stupid as he charged Shino. He knew that he was weaker than Shino, and he suspected that he had less training in taijutsu too. The only real advantage he had were his two kunai, and those were canceled out, and probably surpassed too, by Shino's insects. Despite all of these setbacks, he still charged. He was determined to end this fight. He was glad that he had flipped his knives over, having them like that made him feel like Asuma, and he needed every bit of confidence he could get.

Once he reached Shino, he swiped inwards with his right arm, flashing out his blade at Shino's chest. Shino also moved his right arm, with Kikai swirling around it, and intercepted the attack. The bugs condensed right at the moment of impact and actually stopped the blade more effectively than any knife could have. When the momentum left Shikamaru's attack, the bugs swirled around the blade and attached to his hand, sucking just a bit more of his precious little chakra reserves. He quickly shook them off and cut upward with his left knife. Shino blocked this one as well, but Shikamaru pulled away before his bugs could get to him. Continuing the spin started by pulling away with his left arm, Shikamaru spun around and launched a sweep kick. Shino leapt over the kick and used his heightened position to tuck his right arm back. He clenched his hand into a fist and his Kikai condensed around it, forming a sort of shell.

Shikamaru recovered and lunged back as Shino's fist smashed into the ground where he had been just seconds ago. When he lifted his hand a small hole was in the ground. His insects spread out and began swirling around him once again.

'Great, even more troublesome.' Shikamaru liked getting into a close-combat fight even less now that he had seen just what Shino could do, but there was no choice for him now.

Shino came up from his crouch with another hardened strike with his left arm. Shikamaru shifted to the side and stabbed out with his left Kunai while slashing with his right. Shino's right arm blocked the stab, but then he had to spin around to avoid the slash. He came out of the spin with a bug-hardened back knuckle strike. Shikamaru ducked under this and kicked out, but bugs condensing around Shino's chest and blocked his foot. They began to swirl around shoe, but then Shino was forced to leap back to avoid a kunai Shikamaru had thrown at his foot.

They stood there for a moment, Shino with his insects around him and Shikamaru with his last knife, but then Shino lunged forward and fanned his bugs around both of his hands for a double palm. The size of his attack was about three feet square, but Shikamaru had expected it this time, he rolled forward and under the attack and came up right next to Shino. Before Shino could react, Shikamaru threw his kunai. With almost point-blank range between them, Shino barely had time to dodge the knife that was headed for his head. He jerked his neck to the side, but the knife still grazed his along the side of his face and sliced off his glasses. Immediately after he threw the knife, Shikamaru began to rain blows of Shino. He reared back and slugged his in the chest with his right, jabbed his in the face with his left, came back for a gut punch, elbowed him in the jaw, and slammed his foot into his sternum. Shino fell to his knees and Shikamaru lifted up both of his hands to slam down of him, but before he could even react, Shino's fist was in his jaw.

Shino's strength surprised Shikamaru, even though he had seen it when Shino had beaten down that sound ninja. For a moment he blacked out, but he regained consciousness in time to keep his footing. He had time to do nothing else, however, before Shino began an onslaught of his own. He began to throw punches at a speed that would have surprised Shikamaru if he had time to think about it. As it was, all he could do was gasp for air. Shino took no time to change up attacks; all he did was throw punch after punch as fast and as hard as he could. Shikamaru would have tried to jump away, but Shino's insects formed a wall behind him, blocking any backward movement. He thought that it would never end, but then he saw his chance when Shino pulled back for just a second too long.

Shikamaru slapped the punch to the side, he did not try to block it, just to redirect it. Once it was past, he spun to his right and swept Shino to the ground. Instead of standing back up from his crouched position, Shikamaru rolled backwards, out of the range of the insects. When he stood back up he quickly backpedaled.

Shino recovered almost as quickly as Shikamaru had, and once his feet hit the ground he was charging him again. Shikamaru was thrown back to by a condensed punch, but when he stopped his backward motion he just stood in his place, waiting for Shino to attack again. Something felt wrong to Shino, something told him to not attack, but he choked that feeling down and charged again. At first Shikamaru did nothing, but then he shifted one foot to the side and kicked something up. It hit Shino in the face, and as he ripped it off of him with his left hand he saw that it was Shikamaru's vest that had been left on the ground. He was about to throw it away when he froze and looked at Shikamaru, who was panting. Shikamaru said nothing, but the shadow that connected the two of them spoke volumes.

Shikamaru opened his hand, and Shino was forced to mimic him, dropping the shirt to the ground. In another instant two shadow hands wound their way up Shino's body and headed their way to his neck. It was just like the beginning of the match, only this time it was the real Shino. Then, however, the shadows stopped, faltered, and returned to Shikamaru. For a second time, Shino smiled.

"I sent my Kikai onto you once you caught me, you didn't really think that I needed my hands to control you did you? Your technique seems to be rather useless against mine. You are out of chakra, surrender."

Shikamaru smiled, even as he felt many bruises start to form all across his torso, and he was having a hard time breathing from that last bug-punch. "I know, I was actually counting on that, you see…You know what, never mind, just watch." He brought his hands together and made one last hand sign.

Shino heard burning right next to him and looked down. For a moment he saw nothing, but he realized it. 'In the vest!' Despite this revelation, however, it was too late. Shikamaru's last tag exploded with a blinding light that blew Shino to the side and into a tree. He tried to get up, but for a moment he was unable to.

'All of this, this entire close-combat fight, was just to get my Kikai, my protection, away from me? He even let me drain all of his chakra just so that he could get me next to his vest and away form my insects. He really is a genius, but I cannot be beaten now.'

"Very good," Shino grunted aloud as he raised himself to his feet. He was in great pain, and he figured that his left arm was broken, but Shikamaru was looking almost as bad.

Shikamaru panted, and was barely able to stand from all of the pain that was surrounding his body. "Yea, but I should have given up quite awhile ago. It would have saved me a whole lot of trouble, and quite a few bruises."

The two of them exchanged looks of dual respect before running at each other. Both cocked back their right hands and, once they reached each other, punched out with all of their strength. Shikamaru's punch landed hard on the line of Shino's jaw and Shino's entire body shifted to the side with his head, but Shino's punch smashed into Shikamaru's gut and stole his breath from him. As Shikamaru gasped and fell to his knees, Shino listed to the side, staggered, and recovered. Shikamaru collapsed to the forest floor and watched as Shino walked away. Just as the proctor reappeared to check on him, Shikamaru's vision blurred and he passed out.

'How…troublesome…' Was the last thought he was able to think before he blacked out, and the last thing he saw was Shino's bloody jacket.


End file.
